Wall Street slinked off into the corner yesterday in anticipation of a spanking today from President Bush.

Traders unloaded shares as concerns spread about still more tainted bookkeeping and slack corporate ethics. Bush is expected to slam corrupt CEOs and promise criminal prosecutions for illegal numbers-jugglers in his address today on Wall Street.

For the last two days, Bush has given previews of his harsh crackdown on the bad eggs of Wall Street.

The angry moods of Washington and Main Street are blamed for yesterday’s losing session, which wiped out most gains from a rally on Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 104.60 points, or 1.12 percent, to close at 9,274.90. The Standard & Poor’s closed down 12.05 points at 976.98, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 42.75 points, or 2.95 percent, to 1,405.61.

Stock investors were spooked by Merck’s admission that the drug giant booked $14 billion in revenues from prescription co-payments it never received.

Fearing that Merck could become another Pandora’s box of improper accounting, investors sold shares, sending it down 2 percent, or $1.05, to $47.81.

“People are certainly waiting for the next shoe to drop,” said Michael Vogelzang, president of Boston Advisors Inc.

“There’s a fairly prevalent sense of, ‘Who’s going to be next?’ “

Earnings jitters also cast a pall on trading. Alcoa, the world’s No. 1 aluminum producer, and utility company Allegheny Energy Inc. gave dismal outlooks for earnings.

“Caution is the word of the day,” said Peter Coolidge, senior equity trader at Brean Murray & Co. “Until confidence starts to build that there won’t be any major surprises from large firms, it really makes it hard for any sustainable rally to take place.”

Alcoa said quarterly profits fell due to sluggish demand from the manufacturing and aerospace industries. Alcoa fell 88 cents to $32.50.

Level 3 Communications rocketed 51 percent – up $1.47 to $4.36 – after billionaire Warren Buffett and two other investors agreeded to buy $500 million of Level 3 debt to allow the fiber-optic carrier to make acquisitions.